It
is essential for the web designing companies and web designers to have fully
knowledge about the terms Mobile-First, Adaptive and Responsive Design so that
they can determine any strategy for their website designing. In this advanced
and technological era millions of the Google searches are carried out on mobile
devices every hour globally.
The use of mobile devices is growing rapidly in
all industries including manufacturing, construction and travel industry etc. A
large number of travelers start their online searches on a mobile device. Now
mobile devices have become the main source of website’s traffic.
What
the term “responsive design” means?
The responsive web design is a
technique in which a website’s design is adjusted automatically according to
the size of users’ screens. The users can easily browse one website on all
devices e.g. on mobile, tablet, desktop etc.
The content, design, user
interface and layout of the website will change based on the width of a browser
on a device. You have not to create two versions of a website one for mobile
devices and other for desktop computers. You can determine either website is
responsive or not by manually zooming in and out of the browser window.
What
the term “an adaptive website” means?
An adaptive website adapt to
specific screen widths of smartphones, desktop computers, and tablets. Devices
all have set browser widths that are widely known and enable developers to
develop websites that will adhere to their specifications.
It takes time to
make an entirely responsive website because it must optimally adapt to the
width of every browser. Sometimes the terms “responsive” and “adaptive” are
confusingly interchanged. Developers create websites that are both responsive
and adaptive. However, many websites may seem responsive but are not; they may
actually be a blend of both techniques.
What
the term “mobile-first design” means?
Mobile-first is the design
strategy while responsive is the result of a technical approach. The
mobile-first concept mean that the mobile version of a website should be at the
heart of the design strategy and consider the user browsing behavior and
constraints on mobile devices.
A mobile-first strategy can be challenging for
web designers who are used to designing for browsing on computers because this
technique is quite different from a desktop development approach. The content of website must be analyzed carefully and prearranged depending on importance
and make sure that the overall design remains refined. Further content can then
be added for visitors who browse on larger screens.
Initially visitors will not be able
to decide either the website is a responsive, adaptive or mobile-first website.
According to visitors point of view the important thing about a website, is ability
to quickly and easily provide the information they need and perform the actions
they have set out to do.
